Change of Heart
by Ty.Ch.Ee
Summary: I'm talking about fate here when feelings are so powerful it's as if some force beyond your control is guiding you to someone who can make you happy beyond your wildest dreams.Alex & EmmaR&R please...
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

"_Serendipity"_

The rain tapping softly on the windowsill woke her up. It was 6A.M. and was a damp early morning. Sleepily, she arose from her bed feeling her eyes sore because of lack of sleep. She did not want to go to school. Her new school that is…thinking everything would still be the same. A knock on the door came. Slowly the door creaked open and Lila, her nanny, peeked in.

"Ms. Jade, breakfast is ready. You have to hurry or you'll be late." She said with much concern.

Jade nodded and asked her to go. Lila obediently went. She felt sick. This was what she felt every morning. Every morning since she was fifteen and her parents died. She stood up and faced the full-length mirror studying herself. Circles formed under her eyes, her long black hair untidy, her lips pressed in a straight line, her complexion pale and almost out of life. This was not her- not three years ago before her unbearable loss. It had been very hard for her to loose something she considered her everything. It had made a traumatic experience for her and she had been broken ever since. Jade looked away shaking the memory off and headed towards the bathroom. Everything good about her had changed. She used to be cheerful, lively and had straight A's in her previous school. Now she was glum and weak. Like her trauma had sucked every life from her. Nevertheless, she still stayed very attractive. However, she couldn't care less. After taking a shower, she put on the uniform Lila had prepared for her and went downstairs to the lush lobby towards the dinning room. Her parents had left her a plush mansion and a fat bank account…but it was useless for Jade. After breakfast, Alfred, their butler took her off to school. The ride was very quiet and the drizzle outside was making the trip feel more still and lifeless. Alfred stopped in front of a big blue gate that read RYONAN HIGH.

"Ms. Jade, do you want me to-"

"No Alfred. I can manage." She said without letting him finish. She gave him a weak mile and got off walking slowly to her new school not minding the harmless drizzle upon her.

The school corridors were noisy and the students blithely filled each corner. However, almost all eyes were on Jade. Everyone knew the tragic death of her family. Who wouldn't? They were one of the most rich and famous families in the city. But that was not the reason they talked behind her back. It was because of what she did back in her old school- that fateful day when she could no longer take the pain. The day she dreaded she would never forget. Jade walked on looking down. She didn't dare look at their faces fear of seeing them pity and be disgusted of her. Thankfully, the bell rang and everyone rushed to his/her classrooms leaving Jade alone in the now forsaken hallways. She was about to turn around when someone stopped her.

"Hey! You're the new girl Jade right?" she looked up and saw a pretty blonde girl smiling widely at her. Jade nodded.

"Well, I'm going to be your tour guide today. Mr. Yokohama asked me to do so." The blonde said in a very sociable tone.

Jade just stared back in confusion. "Oh! Mr. Yokohama is our principal here. By the way, I'm Anna." She held out her hand for Jade. She hesitated for a while and then shook hands. The tour was quite long. And if Jade was her old self, she would've immediately liked Anna and enjoyed her company. But she wasn't in the mood.

"So that's the first half." Anna declared vivaciously.

"First half?"

"Yup, the second tour is this afternoon."

"Why can't we just finish all today?"

Anna chuckled, "We still have to go to class silly!" Without any hesitation, she quickly grabbed Jade's hand and led her to class.

"Oh, and by the way…I'm going to be your classmate too."

"Hey Sendoh! Hurry up or coach's gonna be furious!"Ren yelled after his co-basketball player who was late for practice. "Shhh! Don't yell or he'll hear you-"

"SENDOH!" CoachTaoka yelled annoyingly at his ace player. Sendoh sighed and approached his coach. He was a tall, handsome basketball player and ace of Ryonan high. But sometimes, he was the coach's pain in the butt.

"You're late again!" CoachTaoka angrily declared.

"Sorry coach…I got tired so I slept for a while-"

"Slept! Do you know we have visitors coming for a practice game?" he pointed out.

"Yeah but…"

"No buts mister! You'll be the one cleaning the gym after practice as punishment!"

"Aww..." he groaned slumping on a chair. His basketball friends laughed at him. "I think it's better for Sendoh to always be late so we won't have to clean the gym ourselves." Uzuomi, the tallest and biggest of the team commented.

"Ha-ha. Very funny guys. Hey, I had to at least get some sleep!" he said defensively.

"What! You've been sleeping the whole day Sendoh!" Everyone laughed. Suddenly their conversation was distracted when the gym doors opened and a group of tall guys in red uniforms came in.

"The Shohoku team is here." Ren said.

"Well, let's get started then!" Sendoh replied with a smile.

"What are we doing here?" Jade quizzically asked when Anna dragged her to the school gym. They had just finished their tour and Jade wanted to go home.

"I just remembered our basketball team is going to have a practice game with one of our fiercest enemies the Shohoku." Anna replied excitedly entering the gym with Jade in one hand. _So what? _She thought sarcastically. She was dragged all the way to the gym for a nonsense game of basketball.

"You're gonna love our players. They're totally good! Especially the one with the jersey number 7 Sendoh." She declared.

"I don't like basketball." Jade demanded.

"Don't be silly," Anna replied not minding her tone of voice. "Besides, it's still too early to head home."

The gym was now half filled with people. Anna decided to stay in the front row bleachers where she would be able to see all the anticipation very well.

"Isn't this exciting? Shohoku and Ryonan have been rivals for years. You'd be amazed at how good both teams are…" She said filling Jade in on what she didn't know yet.

But Jade wasn't interested. She wanted to go home and hide from all the people around. The game had already started when they had settled down. It went on and Jade was getting bored rigid. Shohoku was leading by 9 points and Ryonan seemed to be loosing hope. It was Shohoku's turn. They had the ball certain they would score this one and gain more leading points. Just when one of the Shohoku players was about to pass, Sendoh came out from nowhere and stole the ball from the opponent. Everyone cheered for him amazed at how fast he was. Nobody saw what how he did it but it undeniably was superb. Jade was amazed, but not that much to stop her from wanting to go home.

"That's him!" Anna pointed to Sendoh.

"The ace player! Finally, he's revived the game." Sendoh ran dribbling the ball to the other side of the court. The Shohoku was fast, but not fast enough to catch up with Sendoh. Yet, Akagi, the tallest and biggest of the Shohoku waited in defense for Sendoh under the ring. Without hesitation, Sendoh drove up to him making everyone else think he was crazy to go up against a huge center. With much force, he jumped for a shot and instantaneously, Akagi reached to block the score. But suddenly, as if it was humanly impossible, Akagi froze seeing the ball already behind Sendoh passed on to Uozomi who caught it in mid-air and gave a full dunk leaving the crowd and other players jaw-dropped and astounded. It was after a few seconds of silent awes before the crowd hollered and hooted for Sendoh and Uozomi.

"It's our turn guys. Let's show them what we've got." Sendoh relayed to his teammates uplifting their spirits after the fantastic play.

It was as if Sendoh had some kind of vibrant aura in him that made his team mates feel more confident and the crowd louder. Jade as well was enthralled by his highlight performance, which made her stare at the handsome player on court. And as if her stare was very obvious, Sendoh looked back at her. She knew it was only coincidence but still felt her cheeks redden and she quickly turned away. She was shocked she felt this way so unexpectedly. Immediately, she dismissed the thought and turned to Anna.

"I really need to go…" Jade finally said.

Anna frowned at Jade and nodded. "Ok, but you'll be missing all the action."

Jade wasn't listening. She quickly stood up and made her way out of the bleachers. The gym was almost full already and Jade had to go all around the court to get to the doors. Quickening her pace, she headed to the exit while the game was still progressing. Meanwhile, Sendoh focused on his play. It was their turn to lead some points. Shohoku had the ball and was having a hard time penetrating Ryonan's defense. Suddenly, when Shohoku tried to shoot,Uozomi sprang up forcefully and easily blocked the shot. When Sendoh caught the ball, the crowd went wild! Without a moment to loose, Sendoh did a fast break leaving his opponents panting behind him. However, Miyagi, the fastest of Shohoku caught up confident he would be able to stop him. Sendoh pushed on until he was faster than he expected. Giving one-step more, he jumped, laid the ball inside the ring and succeeded. But because he ran too fast, the landing became a problem. Loosing his balance, he crossed over the court to the audience nearby! In a twist of fate, Jade walked by and saw him coming to her. She didn't have time to react. The next thing she knew was that Sendo had pinned her to the wall, their faces just inches away from each other. Both of them just stared- shocked and embarrassed. But the aftershock was very painful. Jade groaned as she touched the back of her head which hit the wall hard. Thankfully, Sendoh was able to control some of the force by leaning both his arms on the wall with Jade in between them. That way he didn't crush her by the blow. The crowd became silent.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Sendoh apologized holding her hand that caressed the sore at the back of her head.

"I'm fine…" She smirked in pain.

Sendoh was about to explain when he was cut short by his coach. "Are you alright miss?" CoachTaoka asked.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What about you?" he turned to Sendoh who nodded in return. "Then let's continue the game." When the coach walked away, Sendoh apologized for the last time and followed his coach behind.

"Jade! Are you okay?" Anna exclaimed running towards her.

"Yes. I need to go home." She replied walking towards the exit with Anna nearby. Before she could walk out the gym doors, Jade looked back even if she didn't want to and saw Sendoh who by chance was looking straight back at her.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"_Friends"_

She couldn't sleep well again last night. Besides her insomnia, she was disturbed about the goose bumps that came over her when Sendoh had touched her. It was hard to understand why. Nevertheless, she kept on avoiding the thought and said it was no big deal. The next day, she dreaded going to school because of embarrassment about what happened the other day…the more reason she kept on bowing her head low.

"Jade! Good morning!" a familiar singing voice caught her attention.

Anna had been very welcoming. Something inside her was thankful of having her besides being a little annoying.

"Hi Anna." Jade gave a smile that was somehow a little unusual for her.

"We won! We won by five points. Too bad you weren't there to see the action." She exclaimed.

"That's okay."

Again, Jade was reminded about Sendoh. The feeling of wanting to see him shocked her.

"Sendoh was just so adorable in court! You're so luck you bumped into him!"

_Lucky? Hitting your head hard on the wall is lucky?_ Jade thought to herself. The bell rang ordering everyone to go to his or her classes. Jade and Anna went inside their classroom and settled down. It was Jade's first to join the history class so she sat in the back row beside an empty seat by the window. Mr. Tau, their geeky history teacher greeted the class and checked the attendance. Everyone raised their hands after hearing the name.

"Akira Sendoh…" Mr. Tau called. Jade suddenly looked up surprised to realize he was her history classmate. No one answered.

"Sendoh?" he repeated.

Again, there was no reply. Jade looked over the empty chair next to her and guessed it was his seat.

"Oh well…" Mr. Tau sighed, "So about history…"

After a long gruesome day, the dismissal bell rang and everyone filled the hallways. Jade walked towards her locker but got bumped by Mr. Tau.

"Oh, hi miss Asakura"

She greeted back.

"I'm so glad I bumped into you! Could you do me a favor?" he handed her a bunch of books, "could you give these to Sendoh and tell him I need them tomorrow. These are his assignments. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the help."

Jade didn't have time to resist because Mr. Tau had already walked away.

"What's that?" Anna asked startling Jade.

"Mr. Tau asked me to take these to Sendoh. Do you know where he is?"

"He must be in the gym practicing."

Jade sighed, bid her friend goodbye and headed towards the gym. When she reached her destination, she noticed there were no sounds from the inside. No running, shouting, whistles… _Empty?_

"Excuse me? Are you looking for someone?" A voice behind her suddenly asked.

She twirled around and saw Ren, a co-basketball played of Sendoh's.

"Yeah, do you know where Sendoh is?"

"They're not back yet, but if it's really important he'll be back here by seven cleaning the gym as punishment." His friend said smiling.

"Thanks."

_Great…_ she gloomily thought.

"Whew!" Sendoh sighed after successfully cleaning the gym floors. He looked at the watch that read 7:20 pm. He had returned from a practice game between Tategami and Kainan high studying the performance of their opponents. Suddenly he noticed someone enter the gym.

"Hey." He called after approaching her.

The girl stopped and turned around with books on her arms.

"What are you doing here at this hour?"

She handed him the books quickly. "They're your assignments. Mr. Tau said he needed them tomorrow."

"Oh…history." He said smiling.

Then silence.

"You're Jade right? Jade Asakura?"

"Yes."

"Akira Sendoh." He introduced himself without taking that big smile off his face. "And I'm sorry again about the other day."

"It's okay." She smiled back and quickly looked away.

She always had a hard time looking into people's eyes whenever they talked.

"Are you heading home?"

"Yes it's getting late." She glanced at her watch.

"Can I walk with you then?" Sendoh grinned.

Jade felt the goosebumps again and hesitated for a while.

"Don't worry I'm not gonna bite."

She chuckled. It was as if the laugh was new to her because she suddenly stopped. It's been quite a while now since she had had a good laugh. The moment just caught her unprepared.

"Okay, she finally agreed.

While they were walking side by side, half of her was enjoying his company while the other half seemed to want to avoid him. Finally, they arrived at Jade's place.

"Thanks for the walking with me." She said still surprised at herself.

"No problem." Sendoh smiled charmingly. Jade felt her cheeks flush so she turned around and walked ahead to her gate. Before she could get inside, Sendoh called after.

"Hey… If you want to have someone to walk home with again, feel free to ask."

Jade nodded and disappeared inside the house. Sendoh walked away with a smile playing on his face.

Jade got to bed and recalled her moment with Sendoh. She had felt undeniably happy although she had just met him. The beast part was that he made her laugh. Laughing had become rare to her. Now, she felt like wanting to do it all over again. Had she almost forgotten her trauma? She didn't mind…surprisingly. And for the first time since the accident, she was able to close her eyes and fall soundly to sleep without a sign of nightmare in thought.

Sendoh had fallen asleep on his desk in class. Jade, who sat next to him couldn't help but snigger at the sight of him sleeping stupidly with his snores quite loud. Her face somehow lightens up whenever Sendoh was around. Suddenly the teacher threw a piece of chalk at Sendoh who immediately woke up. Everyone nervously laughed.

Then a nock on the door came and caught everyone's attention. Immediately the teacher went to talk to the strangers. After a while, he came back inside and nodded for Jade to come. She knew who it was. The strangers were her parent's lawyers. They have been checking on her every now and then sometimes with Mr. Chan, the vice president of the company. Every color had drained from her face. She was back to her old self. Looking down, she stood up and headed to the door slowly. She knew what this was all about. They'd be talking about her money, possessions, and everything of value that her parents had left her with. She was always annoyed and frightened about thinking everyone was concerned with her money. She was about to think that nobody cared for her anymore but looking back and seeing Sendoh smile warmly at her stopped her from believing in that.

She was right. They talked about "business" all over again.

_Don't they care that my family is dead?_ She thought bitterly trying to push back the tears.

"Jade are you listening?" One of the lawyers asked.

"We need you to sign right there on the dotted line." He said pointing to the stack of papers in front of her.

She knew that signing it would mean she has failed her father. She was tasked to take care of the business but she had failed. She was close to tears, her hand shaking as she slowly signed the papers that meant she was giving up.

"Thank you miss Asakura…we appreciate your understanding for the needs of the company." Mr. Chan said taking all the papers and filling his briefcase with them.

He gave a pushed smile and Jade knew it was fake.

_This is what you wanted all along jerkface… to own father's business! Happy now!_

"Are we done?" she asked almost choking on tears.

"Yes thank you for cooperating with us."

She stood up quickly and the gentlemen followed, when they were already out of sight, she ran towards the stairs and headed to the rooftop where no one would see and hear her cry. There she sulk in one corner and sobbed. She couldn't bear the fact that his father's prized possession had easily slipped away from her hands. She had failed him. She was devastated. She cried for hours not minding her classes. She felt very much alone and isolated until she felt someone sit beside her.

"Here…"

Jade looked up to see Sendoh handing out his handkerchief for her. Quickly, she wiped her tears embarrassed that he saw her cry like that and ignored his offer.

"You're not supposed to be here." She declared a little shaky.

Sendoh smiled captivatingly and replied, "So are you."

"Would it bother you if I asked why you're crying?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry…I just don't like to see girls cry. I have this little sister and it breaks my heart every time she cries. I guess that's my weakness."

Jade looked at him surprised he could tell his weakness so easily with a person he barely even met.

"Why are you doing this Sendoh?" She blurted out.

"Do what?"

"Talk to me…make friends with me…everybody else seems to talk behind my back but you-"

"They do?" he asked unknowingly. "Why do they talk about you behind your back? Sorry I'm always late about happenings in school." He said scratching his head.

Jade laughed.

Sendoh smiled.

"You're very funny Sendoh…" she said in between laughs. When she stopped, he stood up.

"If I make friends with people, I don't care what others would say about that person. If I know we'll get along very well, why not?"

"So you think we'll get along very well?"

"Is there any reason not to?"

Jade grinned at him not minding the swelling of her eyes.

"Not that I can think of."

"I'm right then." He said giving a big smile as he walked back towards the door.

Jade had become relieved, like her pain somehow lifted slightly from her shoulders. She had forgotten for a while why she cried. It was a very beautiful feeling for her.

"Thank you…" she called after.

Sendoh looked back and grinned. "I'll be at the gym if you need anything. Take care…"

_Take care…_ It's been a while since someone had said that to her. She smiled at the thought of knowing that somehow, she wasn't alone. That somehow, somebody actually cared for her. She held on to that thought and knew that somehow, Sendoh had made her happy.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"_The Past"_

They have become good friends as months have gone by. Nobody, except Anna, knew how they became such.

The school festival was days away and the school became very busy preparing for the nearing event. Everyonewas givenassignments. The seniors were tasked to take care of the decorations, so Jade, Sendoh and the others busied themselves with making the school colorful and lively.

"Sendoh could you help me out here?" Jade asked struggling to get the glass cover off the bulletin board so she could decorate the inside. He hurried over to lend her a hand. Carefully, they lifted the glass off its place and slowly put it aside. All of a sudden, Jade lost her grip and the glass slid off her hand the edges cutting deeply across her palm. Thankfully, Sendoh caught the glass and hurriedly put it aside so he could attend to Jade.

"Owww…" She groaned in pain as she tried to stop her cut from bleeding. Sendoh quickly got his hankie and covered it around her palm tightly.

"We have to get this to the clinic."

So both headed to the school clinic where Jade was taken care of.

"That'll be fine now," The nurse said after applying some medicine to it.

"Sendoh, I need you to put this plaster carefully on her wound. I still got very important things to do. Is that okay?"

"Sure."

With that, the nurse disappeared behind the door leaving them alone. Sendoh sat on a stool opposite Jade's bed where she sat. He took her hand and gently plastered her wound. He noticed she was twitching in pain and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

"You're such a baby," he said still chuckling.

"Am not!"

"Yes you are,"

"Am not!"

Then Sendoh gave her hand a gentle squeeze that made her squeal. She took her hand away giving him a look.

"See!"

"But you did it on purpose!"

"Okay, okay, give me back your hand." He said quite serious now. When Jade held out her hand, he saw it. Sendoh paused for a moment still analyzing what it was.

"What?" she asked confused.

He held her hand and pulled her sleeve up. There it was…cuts across her wrist. He fell silent not wanting to believe it. She had wanted to take her life. She had intended to commit suicide. Before he could ask, Jade forcefully freed her hand away hiding it behind her back wishing he never saw it.

"Jade…"

He wanted to say something but it was all that came out. Shock had barely made him speak. She on the other hand felt tears of shame mounting up her eyes. She felt so disgusted with herself she wanted to run away and not hear what he had to say. And so, she did. She dashed away from the clinic…away from Sendoh…away from everything else.

_He doesn't need to know! He doesn't…_ She thought bitterly feeling the hot tears finally giving up on her.

_If he knew, he'll think I'm crazy…and he'll leave me…_she ran even though she didn't know where to end.

Sendoh looked everywhere but couldn't find her. He had asked Anna to help him but still didn't find her. Everyone else had finished working and slowly the students left school until it was already dark.

"She's nowhere Sendoh. She must've gone home already." Anna said with a sigh.

"It's okay Anna, thanks for the help anyway." He smiled wearily.

"Hmm…" Anna thought looking up. "Maybe if you could fly up there you could possibly see her anywhere." She said hoping to cheer him up a little with her lousy joke.

He looked up and smiled.

"That's it!" he exclaimed and ran back inside the school building.

"What? You're gonna fly?"

The rooftop door opened and Sendoh appeared panting for breath. Jade looked over blankly and somewhat very still.

"I thought you'd be here…" he said sitting next to her on the floor their backs against the railings. She was very quiet, like she was deeply thinking. She obviously was crying hard previously.

"Jade, it's okay if you don't want to talk about-"

"No," she abruptly said not letting him finish.

"I think you should know." She looked him in the eyes and he knew she was sure. Sendoh couldn't have been more concerned.

"Okay."

She looked down on her shoes and started telling him her nightmare…

_It was her 15th birthday as well as the Asakura Company's 50th anniversary. Many people had come to her party. Some of them were prominent in the city. Everything was well planned and organized. Although it was raining hard that night, it never stopped the people from coming in and going out. However, she didn't care about those, her parents were not around. They were in London celebrating the pearl anniversary of their prized possession: the company. Nevertheless, they have already promised her they would come for her birthday. Jade had been impatiently waiting all night repeating to herself what they had just promised. It was an especially important event for Jade since she won as the school's student council president. She regarded it as a great honor and wanted her parents to be proud of her. She loved them so much but sometimes, it was as if they never existed because of business. It was always about business. Her rival… there would be lots of time when they'd have no time for her anymore because they seemed so far away. Nevertheless, Jade would always understand and keep quiet knowing they were going to make it up to her. So she endured some of the agonizing loneliness they unintentionally give her. _

_However this time, she was becoming angry and disappointed. As the night grew, the visitors became less and less until no one was left. Jade was through waiting. The party had ended without her parents. She had quit…given up hope and started blaming them for everything. At that moment, she felt angry tears pouring down her cheeks. _

"_They don't love me…" she concluded angrily._

_Alfred approached her and said, "There must be a good reason for their absence…"_

_Jade smiled weakly. Alfred had been like a second father to her and comforted her whenever she had problems. It was like he always knew what to say at the right time. But at that moment, he didn't help at all. Blinded by anger she suddenly wished them dead. Before going to bed, she wrote a note on her father's desk in his office. It read: I HATE YOU. She was positive they would be able to read it. But she was wrong…_

_She woke up from the noise that filled the living room. It was dawn and her drowsy eyes seemed to work on their own. She headed downstairs feeling awkward- as if something bad was happening. Suddenly she became wide awake seeing the police officers and other strangers down their lobby. Quickly, she ran downstairs in her pajamas and let her eyes do the asking. Her heart was pounding loudly against her chest that she was deafened by it she could not talk. Someone approached her. He was talking to Alfred earlier who now was sinking his head in his hands._

"_Ms. Jade Asakura…" he began._

_She choked, she couldn't say a single word so she nodded._

"_I'm sorry but your parents are dead…"_

Sendoh looked at her, not knowing what to say. She looked so broken and fragile he couldn't barely touch her. He knew she was trying to hold back the tears as she told her story boldly to him.

"How?"

"They were already flying back here even before the party started. But unfortunately, they caught a rainstorm and their plane crashed. No one survived."

Then silence.

"They never went to the company's anniversary. They went to London to buy me a horse for a present. I was so guilty I never gave them another chance. That I gave up on them. I even wished them dead… Now I'll never be able to take back what I said."

"It wasn't your fault."

"But why do I feel like it is?" She looked at him with those delicate deep black eyes he just broke.

"Ever since that day, I changed. I missed a lot of classes, almost quit school actually," she chuckled thinking to herself how stupid she was. But Sendoh never looked away.

"I was always admitted to the hospital for unexplained fevers and occasional weaknesses. I might as well be dead that time. So I decided to end it. But I never got the courage to cut deep enough to really kill myself."

Silence again.

"Some people just don't understand the feeling of loosing something so important and something you so dearly loved your entire life. They were my only family…my solitude…my sanctuary."

"Things happen Jade, we may not be able to swallow them but they always happen for a purpose."

"Then why? What's the purpose Sendoh?"

He fell quiet. For the first time in his entire life, he did not know what to do. He felt useless but he wanted so much to comfort her and tell her It was gonna be all right.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close gently laying her head on his broad shoulders.

"I wish I could tell you…"

Jade closed her eyes and let her tears finally fall on their own.

"I'm glad you're here Sendoh…"

He walked Jade home and she invited him to stay for a while.

"You have your mother's eyes." He complemented studying the family portrait by the fireplace.

"That's what they all say." She replied smiling.

Sendoh sat beside Jade on the couch opposite the hearth. He yawned and slowly rested his head on her lap. Jade smiled charmingly as she flushed.

"We've got an upcoming basketball tournament next week during our school festival and you should come."

"Should? What if I don't?"

"You'll be regretting you didn't." he warned her teasingly.

Jade gave a chuckle. "Okay, but you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"You'll have to win me a 20 point lead!" she challenged.

"That's all! I could win you a 50 point lead!" he boasted.

"Hahaha! Yeah right…"

"Seriously!"

"Don't be too confident buster, you might just get jinxed."

"Okay, okay… 20 it is," he sat upright and locked eyes with her. "You better be there."

At that moment, both fell awkwardly silent. They gazed at each other for the longest time as if waiting for something to happen. Then, without knowing it, Sendoh leaned close wanting to meet lips with her. Jade's heartbeat began to race as her eyes closed all by themselves as if yearning for the kiss. She knew she wanted it and imagined his sweet kiss taking her away…away from reality. However, she pushed to deny it. Nevertheless, she succumbed to the intense rush inviting him instead. Their lips were already inches apart and their hearts beating loudly against their chests they could almost hear it, it was so close when suddenly, someone came barging in. They immediately kept distance, looked away from each other, and turned their attention to the young man standing in the doorstep. The visitor looked at Jade, and then had a grim face when he started studying Sendoh. After a momentarily pause, he looked back at Jade, gave a warm smile and approached to hug her.

"Jade! I missed you so much! Aren't you glad to see me?" he asked after giving her a big, sweet hug.

Jade on the other hand was speechless and wide eyed staring at the man in front of her. He ignored her reaction and turned to Sendoh. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Jade snapped back and looked at Sendoh.

"Uhmm… this is Sendoh... Sendoh this is…" she paused.

Then the man stepped forward and shook hands with Sendoh who was still very confused with what was going on. "I'm Haru Lee…Jade's fiancé."


End file.
